Dishwashers have become indispensable modern day appliances. Such appliances eliminate the burden of washing and drying eating utensils by use of a chamber capable of automatically performing the cleaning task. An advantage of the dishwasher is that the chamber provides a storage location for soiled eating utensils thereby economizing the washing process for both water and detergent efficiency.
As with any cleaning process, there exists a need for adding detergent which is the mechanism for loosening embedded food particles. While conventional dishwashers include detergent dispensers for inserting the proper amount of detergent at the proper time, the amount to be dispensed is determined by the operator of the dishwasher. The dispensers may include markings to direct the operator to the preferred amount of detergent but such markings are hard to see, inaccurate, and nearly impossible to level off the detergent to the desired level marking. Most users therefore, fill the dispenser to the top and even overfill each time. When liquid detergent is used, it must be added right before the dish washing cycle begins as liquid detergent has a tendency to leak out of the holding container lessening the effectiveness of the cleaning cycle. When granular detergent is used it must be added just before the dish washing cycle begins, or the granular detergent tends to cake in the dispenser and does not thoroughly dissolve until sometime into the rinse cycle.
Most importantly, adding of the detergent is easily forgotten when numerous members of a household are adding utensils to the dishwasher chamber. The individual who turns on the dishwasher may forget to add the necessary detergent thinking another performed the chore. In this situation the dishwasher goes through a complete cycle without any cleaning what-so-ever, only a rinsing. If the individual whose task it is to unload the dishwasher does not observe that the dishwasher went without detergent, the utensils, dishes will be put away unclean, possibly with harmful bacterial contamination on every item in the dishwasher.
Conventional detergent dispensers also present a problem most evident to those attempting to economically purchase liquid detergent in bulk quantity. The lifting of a large container of fluid can cause injury to the elderly or individual who might be slightly physically impaired. Further, the manual filling of door mounted dispensers requires the individual to balance the large container while attempting to fill a very small holding dispenser.
The inefficiency of the detergent filling process leads to a waste of detergent sending excess detergent to the drain causing a waste of money and placing more burdens on the municipal or septic treatment areas. In addition, excess detergent can damage glassware and fragile utensils and some detergents are caustic to those individuals having tender skin. Thus, the amount of detergent used is critical to promote proper operation and efficiency of the dishwasher.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,370,597 discloses a dish washing machine with a liquid sanitizer dispenser. The dispenser includes a motor driven pump and spray device incorporating a gravity fed pump with an integrated solenoid and dispensing valve. The main purpose of the device is to inject chlorine into the dishwasher for disinfection of the eating utensils. Cycling of the injection system is independent of the detergent dispensing cycle.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,749,288 discloses a liquid dispenser integrated into a wall of a dishwasher for inserting a wetting agent to assist the washing cycle.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,901 discloses a removable liquid dispenser for inserting detergent into an industrial dish washing machine. A probe is placed into the wash chamber for monitoring the conductivity of the wash water. The wash chamber maintains a volume of water wherein the conductivity provides a relationship to water quality. The device is complicated and not suited for residential purposes, nor does it have the ability to monitor the amount of liquid detergent left in the supply container, or stop the machine from going through a wash cycle when there is no detergent available.
Thus, what is lacking in the art is a detergent dispenser having the ability to automatically dispense liquid detergent from an integrated reservoir. The dispenser needing a means for monitoring the amount of detergent stored and quantity dispensed.